Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Santa Cruz en route to La Paz

Our last day in Santa Cruz wasn’t too exciting, although it was nice to have a laid-back day.  It rained again today for most of the day; you would think we were near a rain forest or something.  The highlight of the day was walking up the Santa Cruz Cathedral tower.  It was a bit of a hike but worth it because the view overlooked the square and the surrounding area.  Other activities that I did during the day included market shopping, coffee drinking, empanada eating, and dessert sharing.  Oh, and I should mention that a pigeon landed on my head; no one else though it was a big deal but me.  Shortly after I finished telling the group why I didn’t enjoy the flock of pigeons, something scared the birds so they all flew in different directions.  One pigeon apparently thought I looked safe, so he landed right on top of my head.  Dumb pigeon.


We left Santa Cruz around 5 to head to the airport.  Our flight to La Paz left around 7:30 and arrived around 9 p.m. this evening.  The drive from the airport to our hostel was amazing, even at night.  La Paz is located in a valley of the Andes Mountains and expands upwards.  Immediately we all noticed the much thinner air as it was a little harder to breathe than normal.  This, combined with the steep elevation change, will make for a great workout over the next couple days. 

We have a hostel again, which we all know isn’t my favorite, but this one is pretty unique and clean.  For that I am thankful.  Amanda, Paige, and I went on a mission to find bottled water before settling in at the hostel.  It was only 10:30 p.m. but we had a hard time finding a place that was open nearby.  Finally we saw a restaurant on a street corner and decided to try it.  They had water, but in 2 liter bottles.  So we each bought a couple.  The minute we walked in it was clear we were out of place.  Everyone was very nice though and helped us.  We returned back to the hostel and shared the stockpile of bottled water with a few others.  There is something about being able to tackle a situation like that successfully that makes one feel accomplished.  Again with traveling, it’s always the little things that have the most importance.  

No comments:

Post a Comment